B.C. Day 5

Friday, March 8, 2024

Beaver Creek Resort

 

I didn't take many photos today. It started out pretty cold. We met up with Steve and his son-in-law early and got a great day of skiing in with them. It got a bit nicer as the day went on.

The crew at the bottom of the Arrow Bahn.

Another great day of skiing. Conditions are outstanding.

Kayla, Dylan and Lindsay arrived this evening. Parker's birthday is tomorrow so the cooks made his traditional birthday meal of sopapillas. 

Chelsea an Louis opened Parker's gifts.

Dylan, Kayla and Catherine.

Parker and his Shorey sweater.

Another great day and a fun party. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear so we're all very stoked for a bluebird day.

B.C. Day 4

 Thursday, March 7, 2024

Beaver Creek Resort

Another partly sunny day...that was mostly cloudy until about 2pm. Conditions are still outstanding.

A rare photo of me on the side of the run.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another rare photo of me.

We cut out about 2pm and headed over to The Ritz-Carlton for apres ski to see how the 0.01% live and the rest of the hangers on who want to experience what extreme wealth feels like. It feels expensive. Wine was $26, mixed drinks $20 and up, and beer a reasonable $9. It's a pretty posh palace and it was a lot of fun to hang out for a bit. 

 The gang.

The view from our table. The sun came out and it was absolutely lovely.

Old man #1.

Young siblings.

Old man #2.

A pretty fun day. I'm holding up fairly well for a lowlander after five straight days of skiing. I'm definitely not getting any younger - my stamina is not what it once was, nor is my strength. I think if I did this for about 100 days a year I would maybe approach bad ass condition again. As it stands, I'm probably in better shape than 98% of people my age and have no problem keeping up with my niece and nephew who are more than 30 years younger. But...the writing is on the wall. If I want to do any serious skiing again I'll need to do it soon and I'll need to get into a more rigorous exercise regime. I'm kind of losing my motivation - skiing with family and friends is much more engaging to me than going and shredding laps all day. An exception might be on the right powder day.

Another great B.C. day.

B.C. Day 3

Wednesday, March 6

Beaver Creek Resort

We got some sun this morning after three straight days of snow. B.C. is pretty great on a sunny day. Plus, it was nice to have it a bit warmer. 

 Quinn and Parker in front of The Ritz-Carlton at Bachelor Gulch.

Parker, Garth and I on Cabin Fever.

Parker and Catherine at the top of Strawberry Park in front of the Candy Cabin. B.C. has a lot of stuff for little and big kids - including overpriced candy.

 

 

 

Catherine, Parker, Quinn and I at the top of Arrow Bahn checking the Aspen trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny days mean trips over to Arrowhead to do hot laps on Little Brave, Golden Bear, and Cresta. It's about 1,800 vertical feet of nonstop fun. Little Brave is particularly fun as it has a few road turns that are tight and super fun when you're moving fast. Arrowhead is one of my favorite parts of B.C. It's a bit lower than the rest of the resort and has some really fun and fast intermediate/expert terrain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sun didn't last all day. We went to Spruce Saddle for lunch and met up with my old pal Steve. It got a little cloudy by the time we got back out but conditions were still primo.

Beth stylin'.

 Catherine showing her smooth style.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quinn and Parker

Quinn

Parker rippin the bumps on Ripsaw.

Garth did a double eject yardsale on Ripsaw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My old buddy Steve on top of Ripsaw. I've known Steve since 4th grade at Riffenburg Elementary School in Fort Collins. We hung out a lot in high school and a few years after. I hadn't talked with him for probably three decades when I asked him if he wanted to go to our 40th class reunion in 2018. It's been great reconnecting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve on the top of Ripsaw.

The race course was open today so Parker challenged me to a rematch since I beat him in 2022. Alas, my day has come, Parker beat me on the first run by a couple of seconds as I got late on the gates at the bottom. We did a rematch, and he beat me again, but on 0.06 seconds or about a foot. A tough outcome but it was inevitable. Altogether it was really fun to ski some gates and have a bit of competition.

B.C. Day 2

Beaver Creek Resort

Tuesday, March 5

The day after powder day. It snowed another 5" last night - 30" in three days. Can't get much better than this.

Waiting for the bus at Lake Street Station.

On top of the billion dollar run. I attempted to make a video but only got the start and the finish. I'll get one in the next couple of days.

 

The Ritz-Carlton at Bachelor Gulch.  Rooms start at $1,800 a night. It's caters to people with money like we'll never know. Our crew has been known to have a drink on the patio at the Ritz. Maybe that will happen later in the week,

A pretty great day. We got all over the mountain - from Arrowhead to Beaver Creek. Tomorrow there may be sunshine - looking forward to that.

Snowing

March 5, 2024

Beaver Creek Resort

 First full day and it snowed 10" overnight on top of the 15" they got Saturday night. Powder day!

We hit the early bus to the Weston to ride the gondola up to Bachelor Gulch, home of The Ritz. Beth, Parker, and Quinn waiting for the bus.

We headed over to President Ford's for the first run. It was a very good 10".  Garth approves.

Catherine approves.

Quinn even liked it.

Parker likes it!

 

 

Garth and Quinn playing in the snow. Actually Garth went down on a mogul and then Quinn went down trying to help him.

Royal Elk Glades was crazy deep - 25". It was also crazy crowded - lots of boarders today. I got a couple of great but short shots. Parker showing how deep it was.

Lots of locals out today--including annoying locals. John got hip checked and knocked down at the bottom of Royal Elk by a snowboarder who claimed he couldn't stop...had to keep momentum. Quinn got her skis run over boy a boarder. Another boarder rode over someone's skis and said "they're only skis." We caught up with him and informed him what an inconsiderate shitheel he was. He then denied it and claimed he didn't do it. He finally backed down and cut into the trees. I'm sure he's telling all his buds how he took on three guys and one. I hope he gets his pass pulled soon.

Alas, I was tired and sore so we went over to the community center and sat in the hot tub. I had dinner and then a headache so I went to bed. All in all a pretty good start to the ski trip.

 

 

Back to the Beav

Breckenridge Resort

March 2, 2024

I'm back in Colorado for the bi-annual trip to Beaver Creek.

I arrived in Denver on Thursday, February 29. I rode the train downtown and Kayla picked me up at Union Station.

Kayla in front of her cute new house in the Berkeley neighborhood.

March 1, Kayla's House

It's not a trip if you don't do some work. We started prepping Kayla's yard for the complete spring/summer makeover.

 The part on the other side of the sidewalk will get seeded with clover and grass.

 We removed the grass and the planter. She'll make a flagstone patio and get some furniture. It was very warm while we were working - the typical fake Colorado spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 2, 2024

Breckenridge Resort

 

 Garth and I hit Breck on Sunday while the ladies shuttled the goods.  It was snowing and conditions were pretty good - 8" overnight.

Garth over on C Chair. Conditions were pretty good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten Mile Station. Last time I was here was in 2019 for Brook and Parker's wedding. I'm standing pretty close to where they were. It was lots of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garth warming up - it was pretty chilly and windy today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got over Vail Pass successfully. Unfortunately, Beth didn't - she got rear ended. Fortunately nobody was hurt and damage was not enough to disable the vehicle.

Parker and Chelsea. Chelly was a little nervous about me but is warming up.

 

It's still snowing, and there's been several inches since we arrived. Should be a great powder day since BC got 15" Saturday night. Shaping up to be a good trip.

 

 

Steamboat Sun

March 15, 2022

Steamboat Resort

I waited two years to finish this post...more to come.

Steamboat Pow

Monday, March 14, 2022

Steamboat Resort

It was nice having a day off yesterday. I rode back with Beth and we had a good time conversing. I especially appreciated that I did not have to drive. The drive was really uneventful - no traffic to speak of. Steve met me in Fort Collins around 1 and we loaded up to head to Steamboat to spend a couple of days skiing with Paul and Dan and hang out with Scott.

The top of Cameron Pass looks familiar. It started snowing, but fortunately we were a bit ahead of the storm so it had not hit yet.

The ever spectacular Nokku Crags are looking a little wintery. Probably some good backcountry action to be had up there.

We arrived at host Paul Carter's condo in the afternoon. Scott Whiteman came over and had dinner with us. Scott is part of the original ski posse and I hadn't seen him since we came through Steamboat when we were moving to Florida in 2020.

SNOW!

Paul in front of the iconic Billy Kidd statute in Ski Time Square.

The show was fab.

I.

II.

III.

All in all a great ski day. Steve treated us with some elk steaks for dinner. Looking forward to tomorrow.